The Cleveland Composers Guild

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Guild Members

Nicholas Puin

www.nickpuinquintet.com

A native Clevelander, Mr. Puin received his Bachelor of Composition degree from The Berklee College of Music in Boston. In addition he received his Masters of Music Composition degree and his Ohio Teaching Certificate from Cleveland State University.

Following the completion of his studies, Mr. Puin was commissioned by various local singers, businesses and advertising agencies to compose and arrange music, some of which was original, to be recorded. His works in this area were for such institutions as WVIZ-TV, The Singing Angels, Forest City Enterprises, Republic Steel, Bass Chevrolet, WERE AM Radio and Society National Bank, now Key Bank. More recently he has written music for members of The Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, The Cavani String Quartet, The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, The Cleveland Bop Stop Jazz Unit and The Baldwin-Wallace College Jazz Ensemble.

As a member of The Ohio Music Education Association since 1987, Mr. Puin has taught general and instrumental music for The Beachwood City Schools from 1987-1990. Since 1990 he has been one of the directors of instrumental music for The Maple Hts. City Schools. A position he still holds today. One of his responsibilities is to arrange most of the music for the high school's jazz ensemble which he founded and has directed since 1998. Mr. Puin has also been a member of The Cleveland Composers Guild since 1998.

He has been a private drum instructor at Motter's Music in Lyndhurst since 1975. During his tenure there he has devised a course of study that includes snare drum and drum set studies from the beginning up to the advanced levels.

Since 1987 Mr. Puin has also been the Music Director of The Italian Band of Cleveland. A unique ensemble that performs authentic Italian symphonic and military marches at various church festivals throughout Metropolitan Cleveland.

 As a member of The Cleveland Federation of Musicians, Local 4 since 1971, Mr. Puin has performed as a drummer/percussionist in various concert bands, jazz and rock ensembles. He is currently one of the percussionists in The Strongsville Community Band and leads his own jazz ensemble, The Nick Puin Quintet. This ensemble specializes in music from The Great American Songbook and performs at country clubs, nightclubs, restaurants and city gazebos throughout greater Cleveland.